Gilead Sciences Endows Its Foundation With More Than $200 Million to Support Health Justice, Community Giving and Employee Match Program
Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced a more than $200 million endowment to the Gilead Foundation to further the company's vision of creating a healthier world for all people. The Gilead Foundation, established in 2005, builds on the company’s longstanding commitment to supporting underserved communities around the world. It aims to create impact in the community and society by encouraging a culture of giving, engaging in local communities and exploring innovative approaches to complex social issues.
“Giving back to charitable organizations in the communities in which we live and work has helped define Gilead as a company,” said Keeley Wettan, Senior Vice President, Legal, Gilead Sciences and Gilead Foundation Board Chair. “Gilead’s employees work hard every day to bring new possibilities to millions of people around the world, and we are proud that the Gilead Foundation will be able to create new possibilities for organizations that are doing the same.”
The Gilead Foundation has three core programs: the Creating Possible Fund, charitable donations to local community organizations and the donation matching program for employees.
A new pillar of the Gilead Foundation is the Creating Possible Fund, which will award grants to organizations that aim to build a more just society with a focus on health justice. Funding will support innovative approaches to complex social issues, especially those affecting the most underserved members of society, including people of color and LGBTQ+ youth. Additional details about the fund, including information on how to apply, will be announced later this year.
The charitable donations program contributes to local communities where Gilead employees live and work, with an emphasis on programs that support social service programs, including responding to disaster and humanitarian relief efforts. Similar to Gilead’s other philanthropic efforts, the Gilead Foundation will partner with internal and external stakeholders to inform programmatic priorities and strategies. The application process for these grants also will be announced later this year.
The donation matching program for employees, Giving Together, will increase the annual match for donations made by Gilead employees to eligible nonprofit organizations to $15,000. A special campaign will match donations to Room to Read, The NEA Foundation and the Oakland Public Education Fund’s #OaklandUndivided campaign during the month of August.
The Gilead Foundation programs broaden the philanthropic reach of the company, whose giving focuses on improving access to healthcare, reducing health barriers for underserved populations and advancing disease education in Gilead’s therapeutic areas of focus. In 2020, Gilead provided $409 million globally in cash donations to organizations addressing community need in areas such as COVID-19, co-pay assistance, racial equity, wildfire relief and LGBTQ+ support.
For more information on the Gilead Foundation, visit: https://www.gilead.com/purpose/giving/gilead-foundation.
About Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that has pursued and achieved breakthroughs in medicine for more than three decades, with the goal of creating a healthier world for all people. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer. Gilead operates in more than 35 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.
Gilead has promoted equity, particularly healthcare equity, since the company brought its first therapies to the market. Through global partnerships, Gilead’s medicines today reach millions of people in low- and middle-income countries around the world. In the United States, Gilead has committed more than $100 million over 10 years through the COMPASS Initiative® to community organizations that are working to combat HIV in the U.S. South. In 2020, Gilead launched the Racial Equity Community Impact Fund to support organizations tackling racial inequities affecting Black communities across the United States.
For more information about Gilead, please visit the company’s website at www.gilead.com, follow Gilead on Twitter (@Gilead Sciences) or call Gilead Public Affairs at 1-800-GILEAD-5 or 1-650-574-3000.
